Serpents' Curse
by Psyfaeric
Summary: Lily Potter knows more about how magic works than most wizards, but what is the use of knowledge if you can't put it into practice? Born a squib, Lily spends every spare hour studying forbidden tomes in hopes of curing herself. But what if Lily already knew the answer? Does the entrance of a strange man into her life mark the path to the truth, or is her dream of witchhood doomed?


**A/N: All the creative disclaimers were taken, and honestly, do I really need to make it obvious I'm not making a profit off of this? Probably not, but it's tradition. I hope you all have fun reading the first chapter of _Serpents' Curse_, and have a wonderful day.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>It was a bright Tuesday morning, and Diagon Alley was packed. The school term would be starting soon, thrusting the retail district into a fuss of last minute shoppers. Panicked parents were dragging their young children to the dressmakers, disgruntled teens were rushing to the bookstore to pick up their orders, and first time visitors were glancing frantically between their lists and the stores around them, confusion etched into their faces. Amongst all this mess was a short girl in a ratty cloak, who was currently struggling against the crowds to reach her destination on the other side of Hoot Street. A sign swung precariously on its hinges in the distance, a dim beacon in a sea of fluttering cloaks. <em>Knockturn Alley<em>.

Knockturn Alley was dark and dingy, and filth had seeped out into the street surrounding it, as if to warn off unwanted guests. It worked. The crowd herded themselves away from the soot-stained entrance, leaving plenty of room for the girl to manoeuvre in the last ten metre stretch. Finally able to push though the wall of shoppers, she made a run for the Alley, exhaling deeply upon arrival. As usual, the Alley was devoid of witches and wizards, but full of vermin. The girl assumed the darkness drew them to the place. It was rather like one large, dank sewer, if you thought about it. Not much light, little traffic, lots of water, and an acrid smell that she could never quite place. A perfect breeding ground for rodents.

Hedging her way around some rats feasting on a downed sparrow, the girl took the first left into a narrow lane that was appropriately nicknamed, 'The Trap'. Rats in cages, caught straight from the streets, hissed and bit at the air, angry serpents roared in captivity, and a number of illegally bred creatures took a lunge at the passing figure. A woman on the other end of the lane was offering troll toenails at a hefty price, and across the way from that, in the plaza, two men with enchanted daggers had backed an unarmed man into a gritty corner. The girl ignored them. Knockturn Alley was hospitable enough, if you had the right demeanour, and were willing to pay the right price. Act out of line and you'd be cut off; act weak, and you'd be devoured. If you were rich, that meant bribing your way through the streets; if you were smart, it meant keeping a low profile – hiding your face, blending into the shadows, and keeping your mouth shut. That's exactly what she did.

The girl took in the plaza discreetly, judging, before she continued her stride to the eastmost side of the Alley. There was a shop there with no nameplate, and no sign of being inhabited. She knew better. As she opened the door, she caught a glimpse of the wizard from before. The men were beating him now. He obviously didn't follow the rules.

Inside the shop, a middle aged man had turned at the sound of the door creaking open. His hair was patchy, and his skin was unnaturally sallow. He grinned at the girl entering.

"Ah, Jules," he said in his crooked voice, "I was wondering when I'd see you next."

The girl smiled from underneath her ski mask, "Please, I'm here at least every other week."

"And yet I've never even caught a glimpse of that pretty face of yours," he returned slyly.

"You've seen enough of it to think I'm pretty," she quipped. Thomas was fond of banter, but the girl knew he would never actually suggest a customer reveal their identity to him. It was bad for business. Which, in her case, was most certainly for the best.

"I've got a job for you," she stated, pulling a bangle from within her robes and placing it on the countertop. Thomas pulled the trinket towards him and tutted.

"Straight to business, is it?" he muttered, examining the bangle, "Persian animagus kara. This is a very rare artefact. Very rare indeed."

His voice conveyed a tone of admiration, but not surprise. The girl had been coming to his shop for years, at first begging him to fix all manner of rare objects, then bartering for his services, until they had finally established a working relationship. He liked Jules. She was pleasant to deal with, and knew the true worth of things. Not their shop value, not their cost, but their _worth_.

"The mechanism's broken," she explained, "The eye bead is coming loose, and the hair bead is confused."

Thomas looked up.

"Confused?" he asked.

"Whatever setting I choose, it keeps spinning. Makes my hair look like a disco ball."

The shopkeep nodded.

"I'll see what I can do," he assured, "I'll know either way by next week, so you should come in then."

The girl nodded. Thomas slipped the bracelet underneath the counter. He would examine it later.

"I suppose you'll be wanting those books you had me order?" he mentioned slyly. The girl's face lit up.

"They're in?" she asked, trying to prevent her voice from squeaking.

Thomas grimaced, "Of course they're in. What kind of place do you think I'm running here?"

She snickered.

"Sorry Tom," she said, "You know I appreciate your efforts."

"I'll bet you do," he muttered as he went to fetch the parcels from the storeroom. There was a clatter from out back, and then he was before her again, arms full.

"Interesting reads, these are," he mentioned, placing three beige packages in front of the witch. They were each stamped with the words: _Flourish & Blotts Premium_.

"I'm sure they will be," she replied breezily, fingering the stamps, "These almost look real," she said. Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Of course they look bloody real! Nicked them off Barnabus down at the Leaky, didn't I?"

The girl looked up.

"Really?" she asked.

"Do I look like a thief to you? Barny was more than willing to stamp a few packages for me. Old friends, we are," the shopkeep assured.

The girl grinned, "And I'm sure blackmail doesn't equate into your relationship at all."

"My dear, what could possibly make you think that?" Thomas said with a smirk, "I'd never extort a _friend._"

"And I'd never visit Knockturn Alley," she countered, searching her cloak for a coin purse. Tom leaned forward, propping himself on the counter, "I don't know what you're talking about."

The girl tossed a few galleons onto the glass counter before picking up the parcels and arranging them in her arms.

"Of course you don't," she said, "I was never here."

She then turned to exit the shop, but halted after a few paces. Her eyes were resting intently on a shelf that usually lay ignored.

"Tom?" she asked.

"Mmm?" the shopkeep replied, already busying himself with his ledgers.

"Is that potion for sale?"

The man looked up, "Which one, Jules?"

"The one on the far right," she pointed, "The translucent one."

Tom nodded, "Oh yes. Don't know why I even stock the stuff. No one ever buys it."

"Is it in date?" she inquired. Tom looked put out by her question.

"Only the best for my customers," he assured, "Wouldn't want any midnight stabbings, would we?"

The girl nodded, "I'll take a bottle."

"Ten galleons," Tom replied. The girl raised a brow, "For that price, there may be a stabbing yet."

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><p>Upon exiting Tom's shop, the girl did not take her usual route back to Diagon Alley, but instead made her way over to the scene of the scuffle that had occurred earlier. As she thought, the thugs had dragged the unarmed man out of sight after they had beaten him, hiding his body in amongst a lopsided hay bale behind Curiouser &amp; Curiouser. He had been knocked around pretty badly, but his chest was still heaving.<p>

The girl kneeled down and almost instantly the man's eyes sprang open. He stared at her, but she paid little notice to him. Instead, she made a show of searching his cloak for valuables. When she found none, she hissed out a curse, jerking to her feet.

"No wonder you're dead," she bit out, "You don't have anything worth taking. It was a damned mercy killing!"

With that, the girl whipped around, and stalked away. The man continued to watch the figure, wondering just what she had placed in his pocket.

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><p>The girl exited the Alley in a similar fashion to how she had entered it earlier, but with her cloak and ski mask hidden in the bag she had been carrying inside her coat. Pulling the knots out of her hair, she thought of the man in the Alley. Something about him struck her the wrong way, and she wondered if it was really the right thing to have bought that healing potion at all. She shook the thought out of her head. Of course it was the right thing to do! She couldn't have left him there to die. It would have been inhumane. And it wasn't as if she had given herself away in the process. She nodded. Yes, she had done just enough for the stranger. She had secreted the potion inside his cloak. She had given him life. It was up to him to find a use for it. If that entailed wickedness, then that was his choice not hers. She wouldn't be at fault...would she?<p>

"Lily!"

The girl startled as a body collided with hers.

'We've been looking for you _everywhere_," Dominique exaggerated. Her blonde hair was wild, and her eyes wide, "Where were you? I thought you'd been kidnapped!"

Lily cringed at the wording her younger cousin had used, but forced a tight smile onto her face, "I collected my books, Dom. Look, they all came in at once. Isn't that great?"

Dominique unhooked her arms from around her cousin's neck, "That's boring."

Lily sighed.

"Is ice cream boring?" she asked.

"No, it's fattening," Dominique replied, "Can I have some?"

"Only if you help me carry these to Fortescue's," she said, holding out a paper parcel, "Can you do that for me?"

Dominique snatched the parcel before Lily could even finish her sentence, and started running towards the recently refurbished ice cream parlour.

"Okay!" she called over her shoulder. Lily shook her head. She needed to stop offering that girl sugar. She was bouncing off the walls as it was, and Aunt Fleur was fond of chastising her niece for encouraging 'bad food habits'.

"Are you coming?!" Dominique shouted from the distance, bouncing up and down on her tiptoes.

"Too late to turn back now," Lily muttered, before replying, "I'm coming!"

The girl sprinted off towards the ice cream parlour, unaware of the eyes watching her from within the darkness of the Alley.

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><p><strong><span>AN: And that's it! If you see any blatant errors, please feel free to notify me (if you liked it please feel free to notify me. Haha). As before, I hope you enjoyed reading the beginning of _Serpents' Curse_, and choose to stay along for the whole adventure! It's going to be a fun ride.**

**Katy. **


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